Introduction to Letterpress
August 16, 2006Recently the Book Studio held two small one-day workshops on letterpress, taught by Caren Florance. Designed as a quick introduction to setting type, each group set a block of type each, had it printed on cylinder proofing press and came away with a few copies of a small chapbook that they could bind at their own leisure. The majority of participants were members of the ACT Craft Bookbinders Guild.
You could have heard a pin drop in the room while they concentrated on getting the right letters out of the typecases…
The first workshop was on Sunday 6 August, with 6 participants. The theme of their chapbook was ‘Ampersand’, with text on the origins and usage of the symbol, with a couple of poems on the same theme.
A freshly printed page, drying on the rack
The second workshop was on Thursday 11 August, with 5 participants, and their theme was ‘Alphabet’. They each set a block of prose or poetry, and Caren filled the centre of the chapbook with an alphabet of wood type.
A proof of an Alphabet page, printed in brown
Because of the limited amount of type, each block of text was set in a different font, but to contain the design we kept the font size at 12pt. The chapbooks were printed mostly on Magnani Laid paper offcuts with a small number on thick Arches paper. Sunday’s class chose to print their type in black, while Thursday’s class chose a dark brown ink.
A 4-page imposition, using a 4-section chase
Participants learned about publication planning, letterpress measurements, setting type, moving type, locking up, imposition, and using the press. Most importantly, they also took the time to put their type away, which is one of the most important parts of the endeavour!
Dissing the type (aka putting it away)
The workshops went well. Everyone worked very hard, seemed to have a good time, and a lot was achieved with just one day. Plans are afoot for more workshops, and possibly a letterpress night course. If you would like to participate in such a course or workshop, please contact the Book Studio by email: eabs[at]anu[dot]edu[dot]au
POSTSCRIPT: Images of the actual chapbooks have now been posted at the Book Studio flickr page. For the ABC chapbook, follow this link. For the Ampersand Chapbook, follow this link.
